Once Upon a Time
by Gemmaaaaa
Summary: Now, she couldn't be like Anakin and swear that being a spouse and parent were all that mattered to her, because her other titles – especially the professional ones, also drove her. But to be a wife to Anakin, to be the mother of her children, it felt as natural as breathing, the progression of her life as it was meant to be. It was as if a missing piece of her had been returned.


A mewling, gurgled whimper from her left drew Padme to consciousness from her exhausted rest. From habit, a single hand crept its way across the warm bedsheets until it found the solid body beside her, the origin of the noises? With a groan of her own, she forced her tired eyes to open as the whimper grew in volume and pitch. _Anakin_? No. Once her vision settled enough, the dark shadow of her husband's sleeping form registered into Padme's mind. Beside her, her Jedi husband slept on obliviously to the sounds that pulsed through the lit up monitor. His gentle snores continued as Padme gingerly sat up, clenching her teeth against the harsh cramp that erupted throughout her abdomen as she moved. It _hurt_. But the pain was more than worth the product of her labour… The very little beings whose noises had roused her.

Her beautiful twins.

The pain only grew worse as she carefully swung her legs to the side and climbed out of bed, reaching for the warm navy robe carefully slung over the chair beside the bed. Naboo was always cold at this time of the rotation. The ground was beginning to freeze – as proven by Anakin's slight _slip_ just yesterday. His poor ego was still bruised from that, he'd been sulking all night… The memory brought an adoring smile to the Senator's mouth as she glanced over her shoulder to the man who dominated her thoughts. _She loved him_. How many times had he sworn that she was his very soul – his light? Sometimes Padme suspected that it was Anakin who was her light in the Galaxy… It was why she held so much faith in him, in his _goodness_ and skill. She was the proudest wife in the entire galaxy. And by far, the most beloved, of that she had no doubts.

Resisting the urge to climb back into the bed to kiss her beloved awake, Padme quickly tied the robe around her body and stepped carefully out of the chamber. _Let him rest tonight._ He'd been so good to her these past few days, ensuring that she received all the rest she needed to recover from the twin's birth, dealing with diapers and wailing and naps while Padme slept for hours at a time. And all the while he was working on the nursery too, collecting little things here and there from the marketplaces in Theed to build their babies a beautiful room. _It was just how she wanted it._

How did she ever get so lucky? Once a lonely spinster with a social life most would find dormant and lacking in every way to a most loved wife and now the mother of the most precious babies in the galaxy. She thought all this as she padded quietly into the unlocked nursery just in time for a shrill cry to pierce the air. Padme had been a great many things throughout her life, held extremely important positions and titles in just twenty-eight years, daughter, sister, Queen, Senator… Wife… Mother… While all were exceptionally important to her, and crucial parts of her life, personality and ambitions, but the final two… Those were the _truly_ important ones. Now, she couldn't be like Anakin and swear that being a spouse and parent were _all_ that mattered to her, because her other titles – especially the professional ones, also drove her. But to be a wife to Anakin, to be the mother of her children, it felt as natural as breathing, the progression of her life as it was meant to be. It was as if a missing piece of her had been returned at last.

As she glanced down at the pairs of teary eyes, the exhaustion that plagued her body faded into black nothingness. There was nothing she wanted more than to spend time with her children – not even the sleep her body craved. There'd be plenty of time to sleep later… This was about them. "Hello, my little angels…" Padme whispered, reaching down to stroke the tips of her fingers across one of the babies' cheek… Her precious little… _Boy_ … Her son. Padme always knew she was having a boy, and she was right. Here he was… Little tufts of wispy blonde hairs covered his head as bright blue eyes blinked up at her, making her smile even wider. He had his father's beautiful eyes. That was what she'd wanted all along. A baby boy just like her Ani… And here he was.

Heart full to bursting with the purest adoration, Padme reached down to scoop the infant up, into her arms and brought him close, pressing her nose against his forehead for a moment. _So soft…_ "Luke…" She whispered and carefully shifted him in her arms so he lay fully supported. She simply couldn't get enough of his pink little face. Overcome suddenly, by the urge to memorise every inch of him, Padme traced the tip of her finger along his smooth, baby-soft skin and sighed contently. "I love you…" She whispered, and didn't need to hear the sentiment repeated. His very existence was pure love – he and his twin were created through love.

Tired of being ignored, the other baby expressed her disinterest through a series of little broken cries that only made Padme smile more… She peered down, into the beautiful white crib Anakin built for them himself at her second child… Her beautiful little… Girl. Her _daughter._ Yes, that was about right – she and Anakin were both correct in their stubborn determination of which sex the baby was. And she couldn't have been happier about it. One of each was a perfect balance. Anakin got his daddy's little girl, and Padme had her sweet boy.

Truly, she was the luckiest woman in the galaxy

"Hello, Leia…" Padme whispered the writhing child whose arms broke free of the messy swaddling attempt made by her inexperienced father. _At least he tried._ It was more than she could ask for. "Just give me a moment." She balanced Luke in one arm and reached for pillows and blankets with the other, dropping them to the floor to make a small, soft little area to lay the twins together. Luke first, placed delicately against a plush yellow cushion to support his tiny head, and then Padme stood once more to reach for his sister and placed her beside her twin. Once settled, she simply watched the babies move, fascinated… She'd never gotten to spend as much time with Ryoo and Pooja as she would have liked. Babies were as new to her as they were to Anakin. If anything, he had _more_ experience than her by playing with the Jedi younglings in the Temple. But she was going to learn. She was going to be the best mother these little ones could ever ask for, she swore it.

Leia waved her arms up and down again and again and kicked out her little feet so that the carefully crafted woollen sock protecting her sensitive skin from the cold night slipped off, and Padme reached out to run the pad of her thumb against the impossibly soft skin. How was it possible to love someone she'd known for so little time, so much? Padme had never loved anyone like this… The way she loved Anakin was different, it was consuming in another way.

"Do you want a story?" She whispered, but the only response was the sound of Luke's lips blowing together to make raspberries which brought the semblance of a smile to his sister's face… Sweet little angels. So innocent… "I'm going to take that as a yes." Now… What story should she tell? There were the classic stories her grandmother would read to her as a little girl… Or the fairy tales her own father would tell her and Sola every night full of epic – and _appropriate –_ romances, brave knights and evil monsters, giant scaled beings filled with hate… But the real monsters aren't like the ones in the stories. They're far more frightening, because they were real and they came in every form… And they were smarter, too. They could worm their way into your life and destroy everything you cherished.

With that thought, inspiration struck. "Once upon a time, there was a Queen. She ruled over her system with kindness and love for all her people, and yet deep down, she was very lonely. You see, for all that her people loved their Queen, something was missing. Something everyone needs no matter who you are… Love. True love. Queen Amidala didn't have that kind of love, no matter how badly she wanted it." Padme looked down at the babies, who watched her silently and forced herself to smile as Luke's thumb found its way into his waiting mouth. "So she threw herself into working for her people and did everything she could to protect them. But nothing she did could stop the bad people from coming and bringing chaos and terror to her peaceful planet… So she pulled on a disguise and flew off with the help of some brave Jedi and her very strong friends to find help for her people. And she met a boy. A _silly_ , young boy who liked racing and ships. He worked in a little junk store for a not very nice being called Watto."

" _Are you an angel?"_

" _What?"_

" _An angel. I heard the deep space pilots talk about them. They're the most beautiful creatures in the universe… They live on the moons of Iego, I think."_

" _You're a funny little boy."_

"The boy joined the Queen and her friends and raced his pod to win them the parts of a ship they needed… And he won. In return, the Jedi helped the boy discover the powers he had – Jedi powers. So the boy left his mother behind and joined the Queen and on their mission to save her planet. And you know what, my loves?" Padme asked, but did not wait for an answer. Her newborns couldn't ever hope to provide one beyond a gargle or toothless smile if she was lucky. "Because of that silly little boy, the Queen was able to save her people from the bad invaders and bring peace back to her home. But, the little boy and the Queen were forced to say goodbye. She had to rule her planet, and he had to leave to undertake his Jedi training. Neither was sure if they'd ever see each other again."

The memories brought a wistful smile to Padme's face as she reached out with both hands to stroke the faces of her babies. They watched her raptly with big wide eyes, taking in every word she spoke. All those events led to this… And yet they'd been so long ago that she could never have possibly known what might have happened. If she had… _Oh,_ Padme could practically see the indignation upon her own young face at the time. All the way back when little Ani Skywalker was just that. A little boy. Her dear friend.

"Well, they _did_ see each other again, but not for a very long time… Until they were both grown up. Very bad people wanted to hurt the Queen, even though she hadn't been the Queen for a little while. She still served her people but in a different way. But that didn't stop the bad people. So, now that the little boy was grown into a brave Jedi hero, he was sent to protect her, and they ran away to hide in her beautiful lake house where no one would think to look for them. They spent time together, getting to know each other again and slowly, they began to fall in love… _Truly_ , _deeply_ , in love."

" _I love you."_

"… _You love me? I – I thought that we had decided not to fall in love… That it would destroy our lives."_

" _I think our lives are about to be destroyed anyway. I truly, deeply… Love you… Before we die I want you to know"_

"And though there were many complications, and their love wasn't allowed, the Jedi and the Senator pledged their love to one another for an eternity. They became husband and wife though no one else could ever know and many sacrifices had to be made, but none of that mattered because they loved each other."

If she closed her eyes, Padme could still feel the gentle touch of Anakin's lips upon hers, the shyest of kisses despite their new eternal bond to one another as the warm sunset just beyond the lake… The cold of the cybernetic fingers lacing themselves through her own. The happiest moment of her life… When there'd been so much hope, so much naivety on both their parts. And a deep seeded desperation to cling to one another as tightly as possible before Anakin left her to embrace the front lines. _Oh,_ if she could relive that moment again… She'd go back and do it over and over again if it meant she could look into his eyes and know there was still time, that they still had a chance…

"But there were other plans for the brave Jedi, evil plans. Beyond what anyone could have ever guessed. There was someone who wanted to use his power for their own greed, someone that the Jedi trusted greatly. Someone who fooled everyone into trusting him for a very long time…" The faces of her babies grew blurred suddenly, as Padme's eyes stung with unwelcome tears. She wished this was not the story she had to tell them. And yet… It _was._

"The brave Jedi and his beloved were about to begin a family of their own… But what should have been a happy time quickly turned into something terrible. The Jedi had awful dreams of his wife suffering, of losing her and he became afraid that the dreams would come true… He was _so afraid._ That – that fear… It led him to fall for the evil person's lies." Padme's throat constricted tightly, as if her own body protested against the story. "And those lies began to twist the once brave and good Jedi into something else, someone not even his wife knew anymore. The desperation to save what he loved forced him to do the most… _Terrible_ things. Things neither of them would have ever thought he was capable of."

" _Stop! Stop now, come back! I love you!"_

" _Liar!"_

Gently, Padme slipped Leia's little sock back onto her foot to steal a moment away from the story to gather herself. She had to continue… It was important… But it was hard. Retelling the events that had led them here was, _truly,_ the most difficult experience of her life. "He was lost… So painfully lost that not even his beloved could draw him back to her. But there is still hope… There is _always_ hope, my angels. Because that brave Jedi, your father… He is a _good_ person. Deep down, he's still that good man who I fell in love with… I know he is. And you both _must_ know that too. No matter what happens, or what anyone may say – keep that hope. Remember this… There is still good in him." Padme looked down at her beloved children for a moment and they watched her carefully in return. She loved them… She loved them both so much and that they might never know that… It tore what remained of her heart to pieces. "I wish I could be the one to tell you all this." She wouldn't be. It wasn't her place, not anymore… No matter how much she might wish otherwise. She took one, long, shuddering breath and took one baby's hand in each of her own, and closed her eyes.

And then she opened them again.

There were no perfectly painted pale yellow nursery walls surrounding the Senator now, only the cold, harshly sterile walls of whatever medcenter Obi-wan had brought her to. Padme longed painfully for the nursery now, for the fantasy of what should be… She wanted Anakin, and her babies but all three were beyond her reach. She couldn't find the strength to lift her head off of the slightly cushioned leather pad beneath her neck. Where were the twins? They'd both fallen so quiet after she saw them for the briefest moment. Were they alright? Padme wanted to hold them… She wanted to look them in the eye for more than a split second but she was _so_ tired. There was still so much she had to tell them, but of all things, what they _had_ to know… What she'd imagined telling them, they _needed_ to know about Anakin. This wasn't him. It was Palpatine – all him. Anakin was still in there, he was – she, she saw it when he looked at her on Mustafar before whatever darkness Palpatine awakened within him took over. Her Ani could come back, Luke and Leia desired to know that…

"Obi-wan…" Padme whispered breathlessly to the Jedi beside her as the cold durasteel of the birthing table made her shudder, "there's good in him… I _know_ , I know there's still…"

 _The end._

 _ **A/N: Just in case it wasn't clear, the whole scenario with Padme waking up to the twins in Varykino was in her imagination as she gave birth. She was so traumatised and afraid that she retreated into her mind to how she wanted things to be, not how they were. If you noticed, she was extremely vague about Luke and Leia in the beginning, that's because until she said their names, she didn't know if they were a girl or boy. She's updating the fantasy as she gets new information.**_

 _ **Please review!**_


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